Review - Miami Vice

**Chris** · August 9th '06

Starring: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Li Gong, Naomie Harris, Ciaran Hinds.
Director: Michael Mann
Certificate: UK-15, USA-R, AUS-MA, IRE-15A
Runtime: 134 Minutes
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/univer...ler_large.html
Official Site: http://www.miamivice.com/

The Plot:

When a job goes wrong resulting in the death of an informant, Miami cops Sonny Crockett (Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Foxx) go undercover to infiltrate the drug ring and tear it apart from within. As they delve deeper into the drug dealers world they realise that they are onto something bigger than just one drug baron, and attempt to go even deeper undercover to see how far the chain of drug barons go...

What's Good:

The story is highly entertaining with good performances from all of the main actors and the supporting actors. The violent action scenes are also very well filmed, and thanks to a 'gritty' camera style it feels like you are part of the action instead of a mere spectator. The director, Michael Mann, previously directed thrillers such as Heat and Collateral, both featured his unique style of cinematography which utilizes the cityscapes as stunning backdrops for the action, Miami Vice is no different. Thanks to it being set in the present day, instead of the 1980's like the series, the film avoids 80's cliches which could have potentially ruined the movie and made it feel outdated, what we get here is an updated Miami for the detectives to entertain us in, and its all the better for it. The musical score also adds an atmosphere to the movie and increases the tension during the exhilarating action scenes.

What's Bad:

Despite getting off to a good start and finishing superbly, it does seem to slow down in pace considerably in the middle as a love story is developed between Crockett and Isabella (its only slow like this for about 30 minutes though). There is also a lack of humour throughout the film, and it seemed to me that the characters barely raised a smile during the entire 134 minute film, this doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the film, but something to lighten the mood a bit would probably have been appreciated.

Conclusion:

An excellent, adult in tone, action film with a great story. If you like action films in the same style as Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon then you will probably enjoy this as much as i did. Just don't expect any of the comedy elements of the films i just mentioned.

9/10

**Matty** · August 9th '06

I give it a 5/10
I would have expected better gun batle scenes. It was boring at times. I wouldn't go see it again.

**Chris** · August 9th '06

It does have a lot of talking in it which can be boring if you aren't into the story, and theres really only about two shootouts, but if you like 'Heat' and 'Collateral' you'll like it, if you didn't like those two films then you wont.

**Shane** · August 10th '06

I like Collateral so I think i will check this out.
Is the story line as in depth as Collateral?

**Chris** · August 10th '06

Shane wrote:

Is the story line as in depth as Collateral?

Yup, probably more in depth to be honest.

**HenryRoy** · August 19th '06

In respose to you closing my thread, your wrong. You are wrong about this film which is piss poor and you are also wrong to close a thread which was not a duplicate of this thread, but a poll to see if anyone else thinks it sucks. It is that and that only, not a full review.

Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean you should abuse your moderator powers and destroy my opinions in a fascist frenzy of insanity...

**Chris** · August 19th '06

Woah, slow down, i never said that you weren't entitled to your opinion otherwise i wouldn't have directed you to find this thread. Everyone is entitled to have a different opinion, just because i liked the film and you didn't doesn't mean you have to feel the same way as me or me the same as you. This is after all a forum and full of varying opinions. As for closing your thread, it was nothing to do with me abusing my moderator powers, i just didn't feel that the thread was neccessary considering we already have a thread in which to discuss Miami Vice, just because it says 'Review' on the thread title doesn't mean that the entire thread is just a review, the thread is there to discuss the film in, negative views and positive views.